You are receiving this e-newsletter from OSPR (the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research) because of your involvement in grants activity at DePaul.  The OSPR e-News contains brief announcements, updates, and reminders that will facilitate your work, whether you are preparing grant proposals or managing a grant award. If for some reason you would prefer not to receive the newsletter, just click on the “Subscribe/Unsubscribe” link.  

Restricted Accounting and OSPR staff are continuing to develop a series of brief on-line training modules that introduce key aspects of grants administration at DePaul.  Since our last newsletter, the following modules have been added to the “Training” menu in the new “Guidelines and Procedures” section of the OSPR web site for your use: 

Internet Explorer Setup for Mobius
Demonstrates how to modify settings in Microsoft Internet Explorer to facilitate viewing and using Mobius Reports. 

Salary Cost Transfers
Defines the two types of cost transfers involving salary costs and provides instructions for initiating them.

Non-Salary Cost Transfers
Focuses on journal entries and the steps to follow when requesting them. 

Cost Share Transactions and Reporting
Focuses on the mechanics of cost share budgets, transactions, documentation, and reporting. 

Traveling on Grant Funds
Presents guidelines, procedures, and federal restrictions that PI’s need to be aware of when traveling on grant funds.   

When employing student workers on your grant projects, please be sure to obtain an OSPR signature on the Student Employment Action Form (SEAF).  Before signing off on the form, OSPR will quickly check to confirm that you have adequate funds available in your grant budget to hire the student and that the external sponsor will consider the labor costs to be an allowable expense. To start the process, just complete the paper form and send it by intercampus mail to Bob McCarthy in OSPR.   When he returns the signed form to you, it will be ready to give to the student to take to the Career Center. 

As of January 16th, the SEAF is no longer being used to initiate terminations of student employees.  Such requests are now handled on-line through the Termination Requests section of the Manager Self-Service function available in PeopleSoft 9.0. For details, please see the instructions available on-line at Manager Self Training:  Termination Requests.   

In compliance with DePaul’s Conflict of Interest in Externally Sponsored Projects policy, OSPR will soon begin requiring the completion of conflict of interest certifications prior to proposal submission. The certifications page of the OSPR web-based proposal review and approval form is currently being modified to enable the PI to easily complete a conflict of interest certification in the process of submitting the proposal for administrative review.  Other DePaul faculty and staff who will share responsiblity for designing, conducting, or reporting on the proposed sponsored project will be referred to a stand-alone on-line certification form that can be quickly completed and then submitted to OSPR.  

Also, as required by the policy, those with responsibility for multi-year grant projects will be asked to update their certification at the point each year when renewal funding is requested.   The stand-alone certification form will be used for this purpose.   

OSPR staff will inform you when these on-line forms are ready for your use and will guide you through the process. 

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Doug Petcher in OSPR.  

NIH has announced a change in its New Investigator policies designed to encourage early transition to independence.  Under this policy, New Investigators within ten years of completing their terminal research degree or within ten years of completing their medical residency will be designated Early Stage Investigators (ESIs).  Beginning with traditional R01 applications received for the February 2009 receipt dates ESIs will be identified and the career stage of the applicant will be considered at the time of review and award.  Additional information on this initiative is available from NIH at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not-od-08-121.html .

The first stages of implementation of changes in NIH peer review will begin in January and February 2009. These changes, which include modifications to scoring, critiques, and review criteria, will be timed to apply to all three standard review/award cycles in each fiscal year.  Additional information is available from NIH at:  http://nexusdev.od.nih.gov/nexus/nexus.aspx?ID=159&Month=10&Year=2008